


An Amorous Ambush

by GeneralKenobi212



Series: Sukka Supremacy [5]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Badass Katara (Avatar), Badass Suki (Avatar), Dad Sokka, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Smut, Katara Suki and Ty Lee pulling off mild eco-terrorism, Pregnancy, Protective Sokka (Avatar), Sexual Humor, Sokka & Zuko (Avatar) Friendship, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, mom suki, the Sokka & Zuko bromance is beautiful
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-20 17:47:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30008610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeneralKenobi212/pseuds/GeneralKenobi212
Summary: After an exciting pair of discoveries, Suki and Katara decide to take a short girls’ trip with Ty Lee—and together, they enjoy a few days of freedom before their lives change forever.Suspicious of what their wives are up to (and definitely missing them), Sokka and Zuko venture into the Fire Nation countryside to track down the trio.(Or: Sokka as a dad, Zuko as a workaholic, and the ATLA Girl Dream Team as the most dangerous pregnant women to ever live.)Equal parts Sukka and Zutara.
Relationships: Katara & Suki & Ty Lee, Katara & Suki (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Ursa & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Sukka Supremacy [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2110200
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	An Amorous Ambush

**Author's Note:**

> This fic uses The Firelord’s Lover as context—so if you haven’t read that, I definitely recommend it, but this isn’t strictly a sequel. 
> 
> (Oh, and the smut will be in Chapter 2.)

“Wanna play Pai Sho? I’m feeling lucky today, like I could take some silver off you.”

For the first time in over an hour, Zuko looked up from his paperwork, glowering at the man in the doorway.

Since the conclusion of his honeymoon, he’d been in a battle of wills with a stubborn bureaucrat from an outlying district, and the red tape surrounding the man’s authority was proving to be quite thick—even for an absolute monarch to cut through. The issue had been taking up basically all of his attention (and patience), and he wasn’t in the mood for shenanigans.

Ambassador Sokka, on the other hand, had the day off—and with his wife, sister, and daughter occupied, he’d come to the Firelord’s study to see his best buddy.

“I am not playing that game with you,” Zuko sighed, “Not now, and not ever. Especially not for money.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“Pretty please?”

“No.”

“Pretty _pretty_ please?”

“Not a chance, Sokka.”

“Hold on!” the Tribesman said as he plopped down on the settee across the room, “I think I know what this is about...are you still angry over what happened last year?”

Zuko remained silent, but his hardening scowl said enough. 

“Seriously?! It was just a friendly game! And you were the one who made that wager!”

“Yes, I was the one who made the wager,” growled the young sovereign, “But I wasn’t the one who defiled the Dragon Throne, played ‘hide-the-pickle’ in my royal theater box, and—I can only assume—did nasty things in a hundred other places!”

A few months prior—after observing her daughter playing table tennis in Caldera City Sanitarium—Lady Ursa had later remarked to Katara that the arguments between Sokka and Zuko proceeded much like Azula’s ping-pong matches—a furious back-and-forth exchange of deflections and counter-attacks that was virtually impossible to follow.

“Perks of being Firelord for a day,” Sokka grinned as he reminisced about porking a certain Kyoshi Captain in the sacred Dragonbone catacombs, “Besides, I was supervised the whole time.”

“By the head of my palace guard—” Zuko snapped, gripping fistfuls of black hair, “—who you’ve turned into a nymphomaniac! Suki used to be the most level-headed person I knew—never did anything reckless or irrational—now I keep finding evidence of you two screwing around in the bathhouse, in closets and storerooms, even in the armory!”

Sokka was thankful he hadn’t found out about the garden incident yet. 

“What can I say?” the ambassador mused cockily, “Our love knows no bounds!”

“It needs to know the bounds of your suite,” spat the Firelord, gripping the sides of his desk, “How would you feel if Katara and I started doing all the things you and Suki do?”

Considering how Sokka had taken from Wan Shi Tong’s library an illustrated edition of Avatar Kuruk’s personal guide to lovemaking (titled:  _The Art of Back-Bending_ ), it was entirely unlikely that Zuko grasped the full meaning of ‘all the things you and Suki do.’

Still, the blow landed.

“You filthy hyena-vulture!” the Tribesman barked, springing to his feet, “You’d better not be! That’s my sister you’re talking about!”

“Oh, your sister?! Well she’s been my WIFE for over a month! So you know exactly what we’ve been doing!”

“Gah! That’s disgusting! I don’t want to hear about your oogies!”

“The whole palace can hear your oogies every night!”

“That’s because I’m fantastic lover!”

“You talk big, that’s for sure!”

“My talk isn’t the only thing that’s big!”

No doubt—being as good of friends as they were—the shouting match would not have lasted long in its natural course. Fortunately, however, the appearance of a tiny mediator in the doorway put a sudden end to their verbal bout.

“Da-da?” squeaked the eighteen-month-old, rubbing her eyes with clumsy little fists. Clad in a green onesie, Kanna’s auburn hair was a frizzy mess of bedhead, and a few temporary crease-marks from the sheets could be seen on her light copper skin.

“What are you doing up, sleepyhead?” Sokka asked, shooting Zuko a dirty look as if he were solely responsible for rousing the toddler from her nap—in response, the Firelord just grumbled to himself and rolled his eyes.

“Poody,” Kanna whimpered, clutching a stuffed sky bison to her chest (a birthday gift from her favorite marble-spinning uncle).

“Poody?” her father repeated, scooping her up into his arms, “You need to...oh...oooohhhh...you already go’ed poody, didn’t you? Is that why you’re so stinky?”

Kanna replied by puffing out her bottom lip remorsefully, feeling some ingrained sense of guilt at the fullness of her diaper.

“Awww sweetie, it’s alright!” Sokka cooed, cheering her up with a loud, slobbery kiss on the cheek. The lip receded, and a smile broke over her little face. “Let’s get you out of this nasty nappy—and I’ll tell you about the time Uncle Zuko made a big poody in his pants after he mistook my cactus juice for lemonade!”

“Seriously, do you have to tell her about that?! Can you try not to ruin your daughter’s opinion of me?!”

“Buddy, her opinion of you is decided solely by how recently you’ve given her a cookie,” laughed Sokka, carrying Kanna out of the study so he could wipe the steaming shit off her cute little rear.

“I hope so...” Zuko muttered. If there was one thing he’d learned after spending five years on the throne, it was that gossip travelled quickly—so if the entire toddler population of Caldera City was babbling about ‘Firelord poody’ over breakfast the next morning, he’d know who to blame.

_ Ugh...back to work... _

_ I’m going to be in here till sunup again, aren’t I? _

After escaping to Ember Island for a two-week honeymoon, Zuko was really struggling to re-immerse himself in his duties. He’d spent those days in the constant company of his new Fire Lady, and often without an abundance of clothing.

Instead of taking evening walks on the beach and waking up to Katara nestled against him every morning, he was back to burning candles till sunrise and falling asleep slumped over his desk.

Not a pleasant transition.

But during that time, he’d left the Fire Nation in capable hands—the hands of a prominent figure from Azulon’s regime whose political savvy was just as powerful as her poison.

“I’m happy to see you enjoyed your lunch.”

Zuko’s eyes leapt up to the doorway once more, then immediately over to the untouched tray of cold food sitting at the edge of his desk.

“Oh...sorry, Mom,” he winced, “I guess...I...uh...just got distracted.”

“I hope all those scrolls haven’t spoiled your appetite,” she smiled, gliding into the room with all the effortless grace of a swan-dove, “Would you like me to heat your food?”

“It’s fine, I can handle it,” he said, reaching for a bowl of soup with one hand and igniting an ember in the other.

Ursa took a seat across from her son, and both sat in easy silence as Zuko returned a bit of warmth to his meal.

“You don’t have to, you know,” she said suddenly.

“Hm?”

“‘Handle it.’ You don’t have to do everything yourself, Zuko.”

Since this wasn’t nearly the first time Ursa had broached the subject, Zuko knew she wasn’t referring to simply reheating lunch.

“I’m the Firelord. I can’t expect other people to do my job for me,” he mumbled, then adding before Ursa could offer her own assistance, “And you had to do everything yourself while I was gone. I’ve asked too much of you already.”

“I didn’t, though,” she replied, taking up a plate of dumplings and lighting a tiny flame in her cupped hand, “I sent a messenger hawk to Iroh in Ba Sing Se asking for advice. Twice, actually. And I relied on your friends when I needed help—they deserve more credit than you give them.”

“They do...” Zuko nodded, acknowledging that Sokka and Suki were perfectly competent when they weren’t clapping cheeks all over the palace.

“But there’s someone else who you should be sharing the burden with—someone you should trust to help you more than anyone else.”

Zuko frowned, wondering where this was going.

_Who does she mean? It’s has to be Uncle, right?_

“I may not have had the most...compatible companion in your father,” Ursa continued, not sounding terribly heartbroken over her annulled marriage, “But even Ozai assigned me a task from time to time. And if he can put me in charge of the gardens, I think you can give Katara responsibility over...say...a public works project or two?”

“What?! Katara?!” the Firelord leapt to his feet, eyes wide as if he were seeing a duel between Appa and Momo. “Why would I throw responsibilities at Katara?! She’s my wife! She didn’t sign up for that!”

“She signed up to be your partner, Zuko. Not just a pretty thing to flit about the palace and take tea with noblewomen who patronize her as a backwater rube.”

“But...I don’t want to throw all this stuff at her...” he lamented, gesturing down to his desk, piled high with various scrolls and documents, “Why would she want to be a part of this?”

“She wants to be a part of your life,” Ursa smiled, setting down the dumplings and taking Zuko’s hands in hers, “So let her be a part of it. All of it—the good and the bad, the ups and the downs. You’re not going to be happy living like this, spending half your waking hours hunched over your desk—and I’m never going to have any grandchildren if you keep falling asleep in here.”

The Firelord reddened, squirming a bit as Ursa turned back towards the door.

“Think on it, Zuko. You’re surrounded by people who love you. Take the time to spar with your guards, have fun with you niece, and play Pai Sho with Sokka. But share everything with your wife.”

——————————————————————

“I mean, I know she loves me—and she knows I love her! _I_ know that _she_ knows I love her, and...well, you get the point,” the Tribesman sighed, balling up the soiled linen and setting it to the side, “But maybe Zuko was onto something, you know? How often do your mom and I just...sit together? Like spend quiet time in each other’s company without...well...”

Frowning, Sokka shook his head and picked up a nearby washcloth as he continued monologuing.

“It’s like we’ve been trying to make up for lost time....and it’s not like we ever really got a chance to take it slow, either. For a couple of years after the war ended, we were apart almost constantly...then you came along, so I took the ambassador job and moved here to be with her...we sort of skipped the whole ‘young and in love,’ phase you know?  


“Sometimes I wonder if I’m so caught up in trying to make the most of every second we have together, that I don’t stop and think about how wonderful it is that she’s my wife...that I don’t show my appreciation for her in other ways, too. Am I making any sense?”

“Poody?”

“No more poody,” Sokka confirmed, smiling as he kissed Kanna’s forehead, then reached for a clean nappy. “You’re the best part of my life, you know that? You and Mommy? I’m going to tell you both every day—in every way I can.”

If the toddler had any advice for him, she kept it to herself—all she did was make faces and spew inarticulate baby blabber at her dad while he did his best to re-dress her as well as Suki had that morning.

Once Kanna’s uncooperative limbs had been coaxed through the holes of her onesie, Sokka stood her up on his desk.

“You’re so cute, aren’t you baby girl?” he grinned, rubbing their noses together while Kanna giggled and squished his cheeks with her little hands. “I love you so, so much...”

“Mmmbbbbmmm,” she hummed back, deep in her throat—some incoherent infantile communication that could only be interpreted as a sound of affection.

“What do you say we sneak into the market to get Mommy some pretty flowers—and you a cookie—and tonight we can spend some time together, just the three of us? Does that sound nice, sweetie?”

——————————————————————

Regardless of how nice-sounding Sokka’s suggestion was, the phrase ‘just the three of us’ had just become obsolete.

And even though Zuko hadn’t been fully applying himself towards producing an heir, his mom had already gotten her wish.

“Four or five weeks,” Katara said, grinning from ear to ear as she held water-gloved hands over her sister-in-law’s bare belly, “Just like me.”

At the side of the bed, Ty Lee squealed with excitement and did a little dance. “TWIN COUSINS! THIS IS SO CUTE!”

For Katara—who thought that hers might be a wedding night baby—the discovery held an element that went beyond sheer excitement.  


She’d put up with nonsense about ‘poor Water Tribe fertility’ and ‘incompatible blood’ since her engagement was announced, and popping out a prince or princess in record time was quite a way to prove the naysayers wrong.

For Suki—who was fairly certain her second child had been conceived in the palace gardens during Zuko and Katara’s wedding reception—there was a measure of conceited satisfaction, too. 

Lately, she’d been trying to interfere with Sokka’s ‘strategic withdrawals,’ and apparently riding him in the flowerbed had done the trick. Now, Kanna would have what she never did—a little brother or sister to play with.

“OH-MY-GOODNESS-THIS-IS-SO-SO-SO-CUTE-I-CAN’T-BELIEVE-IT!” cheered Ty Lee, secretly dreaming of popping out a few (dozen?) babies of her own. “I LOVE BABIES SO MUCH!”

“Shhhhh!” Suki and Katara both hushed her. 

“Keep your voice down,” Suki advised, now whispering, “No one can know yet.”

“Oh...alright...but...what about Sokka and Zuko? When are you going to tell them?”

“Eventually,” Katara said a little guiltily, bending the water back into her skin and sitting beside Suki against the headboard of Ty Lee’s bed, “But we were talking, and...well...”

“When we both missed our bleeding, we started thinking...” the Mom-oshi Warrior continued somewhat tensely, “...do you remember how Sokka acted when I was carrying Kanna?”

“Of course!” Ty Lee beamed, “He was sooooooo romantic!”

“Yeah...” Suki replied rather shortly, sounding as if her feelings on the subject were a bit more complicated, “...during the last three months, he literally tried to carry me everywhere. And I mean _everywhere_. He treated me like an invalid—like I couldn’t do anything myself!”

“Well...you really couldn’t do anything yourself after the eighth month,” her lieutenant pointed out, “And he was just trying to help you. I thought it was sweet.”

“It was,” the captain admitted, rolling her eyes, “But it was also a little overboard. And knowing Sokka, he’ll be the same way this time around, too.”

“Exactly,” Katara agreed solemnly, “With both his wife and sister pregnant at the same time, he’s going to lose his mind.”

“Lose his mind...as in...” Ty Lee pressed, raising an eyebrow, “...pamper you and wait on you hand-and-foot and take care of all your responsibilities for you and bring you little gifts and get the kitchen to make whatever weird stuff you’re craving and go shopping for baby clothes and—”

“YES!” both mothers-to-be interrupted in unison.

“And...that’s a bad thing?”

“It is when you want some autonomy,” Katara huffed, “I’m not helpless—I will _never_ be helpless, and neither will Suki. But Sokka doesn’t understand that...and neither will Zuko...”

“Zuko...” Suki groaned, rubbing her temples, “I didn’t even start thinking about him yet...after I had Kanna, he had every single sharp corner in the palace either sanded down or beaten into bluntness...”

“Yeah, he’s going to be really bad...together, Sokka and Zuko are going to make the next eight months the most miserable eight months of our entire lives...”

“You mean the most safe and comfortable eight months of your lives? Eight months without lifting a finger for anything?”

“There isn’t much we can do, either,” Suki grimaced, ignoring Ty Lee’s last comment, “The Kyoshi Warriors sided with Sokka last time, and Zuko will make things impossible—which is why Katara and I are going to have one last taste of freedom before our boys figure out what’s going on.”

“Exactly. Now, here’s the plan,” Katara explained, her brow furrowed with resolve, “Zuko keeps falling asleep at his desk, and when I come to check on him every night, I read over his scrolls—that’s how I found out he’s been having serious trouble with the governor of some rural province.  


“Part of his jurisdiction is a coastal bay, and its waters are absolutely revolting—the surface is covered in moss and muck, people dump their waste in it, the wildlife is suffering...it’s just horrible. All because there’s this defensive dyke from Azulon’s rein built around the bay to keep out pirates and raiders. If that dyke breaks, then the tides can come in and wash out the scum. It was supposed to be taken care of years ago, but the governor is _really_ dragging his feet.”

“So we’re going to take a girls’ trip to Jinkou Province and crack open that seawall,” Suki concluded with a devious grin.

“Wait...Jinkou Province?!” Ty Lee yelped, eyes wide, “The governor of Jinkou Province is Mai’s uncle!”

“Mai’s uncle?” growled the captain, fists clenching, “I thought that prick was still at the Boiling Rock...and not in charge of the place, either.”

“No, that’s a different one. Mai has a lot of uncles, and they’re all—”

“Hog-monkeys?” snarled Suki. 

“—public servants. The uncle you...uh...’met’ at the Boiling Rock was the Warden. The one Zuko is having a feud with is the Governor. Then there’s the Magistrate, the Constable, the Secretary, the Postman, the—”

“Alright, we get it! Mai is probably miserable at family reunions...more so than she usually is.”

“Are you guys really going to do this?” Ty Lee questioned, her expression twisting with discomfort, “It could be dangerous, and if I have to lie to Sokka and Zuko...well, you know how I’m not very good at keeping secrets.”

“Yeah, we know,” sighed Suki, remembering how Sokka had found out about his present (a giant boomerang made of boar-cow bacon) nearly a week before his last birthday, “And we wouldn’t force you to lie to them anyway.”

“But more importantly,” the Fire Lady said, giving the acrobat an insistent look, “We want this to be a _girls’_ trip. So you’re coming with us.”

“Oh...”

——————————————————————

“Hey! Those are my hard-earned winnings!”

The Tribesman laughed as his giggling little girl scurried away with a wafer in each fist and a mess of slobbery crumbs across her mouth.

“That’s what you get for being a Pai Sho shark,” Zuko smirked, enjoying himself for the first time in a few weeks. Sitting cross-legged on the other side of the board, he placed another tile while Sokka watched his daughter standing out of arm’s reach, cackling maniacally as she stuffed her face with wafer after wafer.

“Your mom is going to kill me when she gets back, isn’t she? Or maybe she’ll forgive me when she finds out how many cookies I’ve won from Bad-at-Board-Games-Lord.”

“That one was awful. Just awful,” snorted Zuko, even though he threw a sidelong glance to his diminished pile of wafers sitting on the fluffy carpeting.

“Laugh at my jokes, or I’ll sic my cookie monster on you!”

“She’s not a squirrel-hound, Sokka. Children don’t just obey commands like—gah!”

The sticky-faced munchkin crashed into her uncle from behind, squealing with laughter as they both floundered onto the floor of the Royal Library. Conveniently for Bad-at-Board-Games-Lord, Kanna rolled right across the Pia Sho board and scattered the tiles everywhere, but she still managed to seize his pitiful pile of cookies right as Sokka joined the fray.

“Not so fast!” he chuckled, his fingers dancing along Kanna’s ribs, “Share your plunder with Daddy!”

Twenty minutes later, the Kyoshi peewee had laughed and wrestled herself into exhaustion. Her little nostrils flared with each breath as she snoozed on her father’s chest, her mouth still lined with a paste-like mix of drool and cookie crumbs.

“I miss Suki,” Sokka muttered up at the ceiling, laying flat on his back with his daughter curled up atop him. “You think she’s having fun?”

“How should I know?” the Firelord shrugged from a nearby armchair, munching on a recovered cookie while he glanced through an atlas of the Air Temples. “Girls’ trips are not something I’m willing to speculate about. I don’t think I’ll ever truly understand the female mind.”

“Me neither...it was kinda weird how they left in such a rush though, wasn’t it?”

“I guess so.”

The more Zuko thought about it, the stranger it seemed—the Fire Lady and her two most trusted Kyoshi Warriors had all packed their bags and hit the road before he’d had time to ask any questions.

“And I wonder why they didn’t take an airship...” Sokka added, squinting thoughtfully, “Where did they even say they were going?”

The two looked at each other, each with an eyebrow raised.

“You don’t think...” Zuko began, fidgeting anxiously, “...I mean...she wouldn’t...we just got married...and you and Suki...you’re solid...and...”

“Wait...you think they’re cheating on us?”

Zuko’s queasy expression said what his tongue couldn’t.

The Tribesman had to try very, very hard not to wake his daughter—so his stifled laughter came out in violent, choked wheezes that ended with a fit of coughing.

“Buddy...buddy,” Sokka croaked, stroking Kanna’s back, “We aren’t the guys that girls cheat _on_. We’re the guys that girls cheat _with_. I mean, you’re the Firelord, and I...”

_...have a totem pole hanging between my legs. _

“You’re the Southern Water Tribe’s ambassador to the Fire Nation,” Zuko offered, trying to be supportive.

“Um...yeah...besides, we’re both good looking guys, and—hold on, why are we even talking about this? Suki and Katara would never do anything like that! And even if they wanted to, they couldn’t pull it off!”

Despite having been ‘trained in the art of stealth for many years,’ Suki couldn’t hold a bluff to save her life—and Katara, of course, always wore her heart on her sleeve. 

“No, no you’re right...” Zuko agreed, “I was just getting paranoid...but do you still think they’re up to something?”

“Hmmmm...I can’t say I’m not suspicious. Let me put Little Boomerang to bed, then let’s start looking for clues.”

——————————————————————   
  


As it turned out, they didn’t have to do much looking at all. 

“Where did you find this?!”

“Under my pillow,” Zuko cringed, holding the letter under the light of a corridor torch. 

“Then why didn’t you find it sooner?! They’ve been gone for almost a week!” Sokka groaned, throwing his hands up in exasperation. 

“I...uh...I haven’t been sleeping in my bed lately.”

“What?!”

“I keep falling asleep at my desk...”

“You’re hopeless. Give me that!”

Swiping the letter right out of the Firelord’s hands, Sokka began to read.

_ Hey Zuko! And maybe Sokka! _

_ Your wives kinda coerced me into going on this crazy ecological crusade to Jinkou Province. Katara and Suki wanted to break the dyke and clean the bay, and they thought you’d freak out if you knew what they were up to. _

_ And honestly, if you knew the WHOLE story, you probably would freak out, but it’s not my place to tell you. _

_ So if anything bad happens, we’re in the clutches of the Governor! Definitely the meanest of Mai’s uncles. Very bad breath and a nasty neck beard if you remember, Zuko. _

_ Anyway, hope you don’t worry! It’ll probably be fine! Hopefully! _

_ -Ty Lee _

_ P.S. Tell Kanna I said hello!  _

“What does she mean, ‘the WHOLE story?’” Sokka balked, crumpling half the letter in an angry fist, “What more of the story could there be?”

“I don’t know...but I don’t like this. They should’ve told us where they were going.”

“Do you think...does this reflect badly on us as husbands? That our wives feel the need to keep secrets from us?”

“It reflects badly on them that they  _do_ keep secrets from us!”

“Maybe a bit of both,” Sokka said solemnly, “But we both know what we have to do.”

“Right, of course,” Zuko nodded with rapidly declining confidence, “Of course I know what we have to do...which is...to do...um...what, exactly?”

**Author's Note:**

> In case you weren’t aware, the word “dyke” has two meanings—one is a horrible slur, and the other is ‘a long wall or embankment built to prevent flooding from the sea.’ Hopefully the context of the story clued you into which of these definitions was being used.
> 
> Also, Ursa is such an underused character, but I hate how the comics handled her exile...and I’m not 100% sure, but she might have made Ikem a bigamist, too...regardless, since we already have Zutara in this AU, I went ahead and specified that Ursa’s marriage was annulled and opted to completely scrub Ikem out of existence—I didn’t care for how he just let Ursa wipe her memories and forget her children just to make things easier on them.
> 
> And I couldn’t find anything that specifically said Ursa can’t Firebend, so my headcannon is that she just hid it from Ozai—thought it would be a sweet irony that she turns out to be a Firebender after her shitty ex-husband lost his bending.


End file.
